Ministers struggle to find formula to end beef export ban

EU farm ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, are struggling to come up with a formula to end the export ban on British beef. Their meeting, which continued late into the night, resumes today.

Last night ministers emerging from the dinner said they had agreed to refer the latest British cull proposals to veterinary experts for examination, and hinted that the ban on by products such as tallow and gelatin would be lifted by the Standing Veterinary Committee when it meets on May 8th. The move was a signal of goodwill, the French Foreign Minister, Mr Philippe Vasseur, said.

It is a far cry from British suggestions that they begin to ease the ban itself, but it may provide a crumb of political comfort today for the British Minister of Agriculture, Mr Douglas Hogg, in the face of the united opposition of the other 14 member states to the limited scope of his current proposed selective cull.

French proposals to "depoliticise" decision making on the ban by setting up a new broadly based scientific advisory committee to vet British culling plans were backed by a number of member states as a way of establishing a procedure that will be acceptable to the public as well as to Britain.

But there was also some comfort for Britain last night in support from the EU Farm Commissioner, Mr Franz Fischler, for the basic model for eradication set out by the British, although Mr Fischler stopped short of backing the scope of Mr Hogg's proposed cull.

The British are proposing to trace animals born at the same time as infected animals and to cull those most at risk, an estimated 42,000 head.

The Minister for Agriculture Mr Yates, said: "I expect a lot of expressions of solidarity, but don't expect to see them cutting a deal."

Mr Yates, who had bilateral meetings with the British, French and Germans, said that his priority was to get a strong political declaration from the ministers backing compensation for farmers affected by the fall in prices and for a substantial promotional fund for beef. He is understood to be seeking some £4-£5 million for Ireland's share of an advertising campaign. Substantive decisions on both issues are likely in June.

Mr Yates received strong support for the former from the Mr Vasseur, who insisted that the EU should act quickly to take account of the losses of producers.

The president of the IFA, Mr John Donnelly, said in Luxembourg last night that there was a need for a special beef finisher premium to make up for the huge losses the winter finishers had suffered.

Mr Yates warned that it would be "difficult" for Ireland to support the overall EU price package to be adopted in June unless compensation provisions were included. He was very pleased that Mr Fischler was now acknowledging the need for such measures. It was important that payments should be targeted at countries worst affected by price falls.

Mr Yates reflected widespread determination that the signal for the lifting of the beef export ban - even on by products such as gelatin and tallow - would come from the EU's scientists and not be seen as politically inspired. He expressed his own support for a lifting of the ban on gelatin, but believed that it did not yet command wide support.

Mr Yates also met the Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister, Baroness Denton, and urged her to pursue a policy of full eradication of affected herds in Northern Ireland instead of a targeted cull. However, she made it clear that Britain was unwilling to consider attempts to regionalise its response.

Meanwhile at home, the growing confidence of European consumers in beef and the introduction of limited EU intervention has been mirrored in the factory figures for last week, when more than 30,000 bullocks were slaughtered.

Figures produced by An Bord Bia also show that total live exports since the beginning of the year have fallen by 45.4 per cent, but there has been a 56 per cent increase in cross Border trade from 1,703 animals exported in the first 14 weeks of 1995 to 2,657 cattle in the same period this year.